When you can take the affidavit from my hand, you are ready.
Not everything gets done right the first time. Take the 1970s television series Kung Fu. Based at least in part on an idea from martial arts legend Bruce Lee, the series was the #1 show in the U.S. in 1973. But casting David Carradine over Lee seems nothing short of lunacy in hindsight. While Lee’s heirs later continued his vision in Cinemax’sThe Warrior, the series that became Kung Fu is getting a reboot, a re-imagining, or a redo next month as Olivia Liang takes the lead role as Nicky Shen in CW’s Kung Fu. Well-timed to follow the success of the similar-vibed live-action Mulan and some of our favorite recent martial arts series likeWu Assassins, the series follows a Chinese American college student who travels to China and is taken under the wing of a Shaolin master. She returns to San Francisco with a new purpose. Nicky looks like a superheroine in the first trailers for the series, which makes the CW network of Arrowverse fame a good place to air the series. The new series also seems to have the slow-motion martial arts effects the original Kung Fu was known for (the same later used in the Six Million Dollar Man).
Check out some great first trailers for the series below. Continue reading →
You still have a month before visual effects artist-turned director Dave Wilson’s Bloodshotmovie arrives as the next cyborg superhero from Valiant Comics to hit the big screen. But if you want to get a jump on your friends, there’s Bloodshot: The Official Movie Novelization, just released from Titan Books, a great read for fans of all things borg. Readers will be pulled inside the story of Ray Garrison, a slain special ops Marine, who is resurrected thanks to Dr. Emil Harting, a (mad?) scientist who is perfecting his use of nanotechnology and cybernetics to create an unstoppable squad of super-soldiers. Written by Gavin Smith and based on the Jeff Wadlow and Eric Heisserer screenplay, Bloodshot creates the next step in the evolution of cybernetic technology stories that began with Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, mixing the rage of The Punisher with the impact on the human psyche and dehumanization of turning from man to cyborg, as we’ve seen in stories like RoboCop (who was inspired by Judge Dredd and Marvel’s Rom).
As for the comics in film, Bloodshot is poised to stack up neatly beside the lab-created Hulk, the merger of body and “something else” of Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four, the mission and science of Captain America, Wolverine, and Deadpool, the determination of Cable, and it’s a fitting follow-up to the half-man/half-monster movie, Venom. That’s a lot of Marvel characters with similar struggles, and there are certainly more, characters with the same vintage of origin story–an unlikely or involuntary super-soldier–so how do you spin this key comics trope in a fresh, new way? As Smith, Wadlow, and Heisserer have done it, you go back to the human condition, and look to what has come before. Bloodshot isn’t from Marvel, but indie publisher Valiant, but it’s sourced in a common creative mindset.
Bloodshot reads much like Martin Caidin’s original story of the first modern cyborg in his novel Cyborg, about Steve Austin, the Bionic Man–the Six Million Dollar Man–a military hero brought to death’s door and back via science. In many ways Bloodshot–the program that pulls in the story’s hero and becomes the name of his new persona–is an update to Cyborg–what you could imagine the Bionic Man reboot with Mark Wahlberg to be like. And it pulls in good mind-twisting sci-fi elements evoking Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse and Duncan Jones’ Source Code.
The Crazy Top Shop was my early 1980s experience with heat-press printed T-shirts. At Southridge Mall you could show off your fandom with slogans or images from your favorite shows. Who can forget the smell of the melting glue as the clerk ironed your selection onto your favorite baseball jersey? I remember getting one shirt with the Three Stooges, one with The Fonz, and one with Yoda right after seeing The Empire Strikes Back.
An online shop is now offering shirts for all sorts of fans with some great throwbacks to pop culture’s past. From mash-ups, humor, and obscure references, many we haven’t seen elsewhere, Retropolis has an incredible variety of printed logos. We’re betting everyone can find something on the store’s website, where it currently is offering more than 900 retro-themed shirt styles. What’s it going to take to get you nostalgic, and what kind of nostalgia defines you–enough to display it for everyone to see on your shirt? Do you like classic television shows? How about toys and toy companies from the distant past? What about forgotten advertising campaigns and the earliest pop culture slogans? Retropolis may not have everything, but it has plenty. How about a shirt with a vintage comic book logo, like the old Charlton Comics brand, that crazy Hey Kids! Comics, or the memorable Comics Code Authority stamp?
How about a shirt with an image of that yellow plastic 45 RPM record adapter? How about T-shirts regularly seen worn by characters inside TV and film, like Three’s Company, John Ritter’s Captain Avenger from Hero At Large, the jersey from Teen Wolf, Snoopy’s Joe Cool shirt, Mork and Mindy, or Pigs in Space? And a few hundred of the catalog listings are for shirts sporting famous and not-so famous superhero logos. From Super Grover to the Flash, several 1966 Batman characters, and even Captain Carrot, if you can think of something, it’s probably there.
You can also find several mash-ups, allowing you to show off your own twisted sense of humor, like an unforgettable Marvel Star Wars comics character colliding with a Carl Weathers movie for an Action Jaxxon logo. We also spotted Atomic Blondie, Cap’n Crunch on a Big Wheel, Fonzie’s Jump the Shark episode from Happy Days meets Jaws, and other shirts featuring Rock ’em Sock ’em Robots, Monster Cereals, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Planet of the Apes.
Along with the superhero shirts, we spotted four big categories to choose from. Like fake pop culture. We saw Amalgamated Ice Cream(Batman),ACME(Looney Tunes),Arnold’s(Happy Days),Athlead (The Office),Advanced Idea Mechanics (Marvel),Chop Suey Palace(A Christmas Story),Camp Crystal Lake(Friday the 13th),Child Detection Agency (Monsters, Inc.),Cocktails and Dreams (Cocktail),Frostbite Falls(Rocky & Bullwinkle), Fox Force Five (Pulp Fiction),Hill Valley Police(Back to the Future),Rockford Agency (Rockford Files), and Wimpy Burgers (Popeye).
You still haven’t found something you must have yet?
This weekend at New York Toy Fair 2019, toymaker Mezco Toyz surprised fans of the classic Six Million Dollar Manseries with a peek at two new 3.75-inch scale, five points of articulation action figures from its “5 Points” line. Zica Toys previously discontinued its line of Six Million Dollar Man action figures for low sales back in 2014. The sculpts for the two new figures revealed at the Mezco Toyz booth are similar. Fans of the 12-inch Steve Austin action figure from the mid-1970s will recall it being the #1 toy of its day, following on the success of 12-inch G.I. Joes. A later generation in the 1980s and 1990s would experience G.I. Joes reduced in size closer to the Kenner-sized figures. Now Mezco Toyz has created homages to the 12-inch Bionic Man and the other popular action figure from the original line, the 15-inch Bigfoot.
Although Zica Toys released both a red (and blue) track suit small version of Steve Austin and a Bigfoot, the new figures take it all a step further, revealing the cyborg chips in Steve’s right arm similar to the design of the large-sized classic figure, and Bigfoot features the chest button that, when kick-punched, revealed the robotic circuitry inside (we’re not sure how the Mezco Toyz version will work). New Steve also comes with the accessory engine, which the large-sized figure easily lifted over his head. With the classic Adidas Dragons, the only thing missing is the removable skin, chest patch, and bionic eye. If you’re watching Doom Patrol, you’re seeing DC’s Cyborg borrowing his clothes from the original Cyborg.
Mezco Toyz also featured several new licensed figures from its six-inch line–the One: 12 Collective–including Brie Larson′s Captain Marvel from the coming 2019 film, David Harbour′s Hellboy from the upcoming film, Jon Bernthal′s The Punisher, classic Wesley Snipes as Blade, The Warriors, and yet another They Live alien figure following on Super7′s new 3.75-inch figures. Plus many more.
This week the Saturn Awards crowned the best of genre film and television, selecting the best works on the screen for the 43rd year. As with last year’s selections, although the start and end dates vary from our own calendar year list, this year’s winners aligned in the major categories with our own borg.com picks of the Best of 2016 from film and television. If the Academy Awards, Golden Globes, Emmys, and all those other award recognitions leave you wanting, you can always depend on the Saturn Awards to come through for genre fans.
So we’re happy to see the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films name Rogue One: A Star Wars Storyas Best Science Fiction Film, Best Direction in a Film (Gareth Edwards) and Best Film Visual/Special Effects (John Knoll, Mohen Leo, Hal Hickel, Neil Corbould), Doctor Strange as Best Comic-to-Film Motion Picture and Tilda Swinton for Best Supporting Actress in a Film, and Star Trek Beyond for Best Film Make-up (Monica Huppert and Joel Harlow). Star of our favorite superhero sequence of 2016, Spider-man Tom Holland was awarded Best Performance by a Younger Actor for Captain America: Civil War. In the television categories, Riverdalewas named Best Action/Thriller TV Series and star KJ Apa won The Breakthrough Performance Award for his work as the iconic comic book character Archie Andrews.* The Best New Media TV Series was a tie, shared between Stranger Thingsand Marvel’s Luke Cage—and Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown was named Best Younger Actor on Television. Even a borg.com Hall of Famer won major kudos this year, Six Million Dollar Man actor Lee Majors was awarded The Life Career Award. We couldn’t agree more with all these selections.
Other works we liked last year that won honors included 10 Cloverfield Lane for Best Thriller Film, Best Actress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), and Best Supporting Actor (John Goodman), Deadpoolfor Best Actor (Ryan Reynolds), Arrival for Best Film Screenplay (Eric Heisserer), and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them for Best Film Costume (Colleen Atwood).
Dynamite Comics announced this week the return of Steve Austin, the Six Million Dollar Man to a monthly series. Writer Van Jensen and artist Ron Salas will continue Austin’s exploits through the end of the 1970s in The Six Million Dollar Man: Fall of Man.
The year is 1979. Iran has seized American hostages. Columbian drug cartels run rampant. And Le Chic’s “Freak Out” dominates the charts. Amid this deeply troubled world, Steve Austin — everyone’s favorite Six Million Dollar Man — is America’s best hope in its fight against innumerable enemies. When Steve discovers disturbing secrets in OSI’s past, he uses his cybernetic upgrades to rebel against the agency… but he’ll face plenty of threats, like an enemy cyborg, and lasers, and ninjas!
Entertainment Earth is now shipping pretty much all of its gigantic, multi-franchise line of action figures inspired by the Kenner line of Star Wars action figures from the 1970s. Many aren’t aware that Ridley Scott’s Alien had its own line of figures by Kenner, developed and ready to produce until someone realized they were marketing toys to kids based on an R-rated movie most wouldn’t get to see. Those figures were finally remade by Funko toys and discussed here at borg.com last November.
The success of the Alien line prompted figures from nearly every great sci-fi and horror franchise you can think of except Star Wars: Firefly, Back to the Future, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Predator, Escape from New York, and Terminator. Blockbuster horror films including Friday the 13th, Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, and even the cult classic The Crow. And classic monster films including Dracula, Phantom of the Opera, and The Wolfman. We previewed all of them here.and here and here. A similar but unrelated toy line is producing its own line of Six Million Dollar Man and The Twilight Zonefigures, too.
Make no mistake, these figures aren’t for the discerning high-end collector of photo-real sculpts. These figures celebrate all things retro in their dated styling and five-points of articulation in a world of figures made today with far more movement and features.
Finally Steve Austin will make it to the big screen 42 years after Martin Caidin first created the man who was barely alive, rebuilt, better, stronger and faster than he was before in his novel Cyborg. And it’s been 36 years since the 1970s popular TV series went off the air.
And the best part? Mark Wahlberg has been tapped by the Weinstein Co. to play not the Six Million Dollar Man, but the Six Billion Dollar Man in The Six Billion Dollar Man. We at borg.com couldn’t be happier with the selection of Wahlberg if we were allowed to hand pick the actor to play the Bionic Man ourselves. Wahlberg is an actor cranking out some of the most enjoyable films around for the past 15 years, from The Italian Job to The Departed to Shooter to The Happening to Ted to the latest Transformers.
Thankfully, the parody film rumored to be “in the works” supposedly to star Jim Carrey then Robert Downey, Jr. then Leonardo DiCaprio, is now off the table. The original Bionic Man, Lee Majors, expressed concern about a parody earlier this year at Planet Comicon. No worries now!
Wahlberg sported a similar white track suit in Pain and Gain. Will he don the red track suit for Steve Austin?
The Six Billion Dollar Man is expected to start production in 2015 with a 2016 release.
Starting next Wednesday, September 17, 2014, the Bionic Woman is back. This time, in her third comic book series in the past two years, following Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The X-Files, and The Six Million Dollar Man, it’s a continuation of the original television series, right where the series last left our bionic heroine.
Dynamite Comics is publishing the new series written by Brandon Jerwa, with interior art by David T. Cabrera. Issue #1 features cover art by Sean Chen and Ivan Nunes and a photo incentive cover featuring Lindsay Wagner as Jaime Sommers.
So how does Issue #1 fare?
They have the introduction right, presumably to begin each issue like an episodes of the series. As to moving the series forward in continuity of the era, the tech gets a slight–but only slight–upgrade, with walkie-talkies replaced with wireless comm-links in Jaime’s ears. Dr. Rudy Wells and Oscar Goldman are back, too. So the setting checks out.
Dynamite Comics’ The Bionic Man series, especially Issues #17-26, was among the best comic book reading of 2013. They are now available in a trade paperback: The Bionic Man Volume Three: End of Everything. Featuring a story by Aaron Gillespie, with art by Ed Tadeo and Rey Villegas, colors by Thiago Ribeiro, letters by Simon Bowland, and covers by Mike Mayhew with other regular edition covers and variants by prolific Dynamite Comics artists Jonathan Lau and Ed Tadeo.
The Bionic Man is a great read and recommended for comic book fans. It features Aaron Gillespie’s storytelling, which we lauded on our borg.comBest of 2013 list last year. It also has the whole package from cover to cover–story, art, covers, humor, action, and fun. We won’t re-state what we said in our review last year–you can read that here. Enough of the origin stories that bogs down superhero books, this Steve Austin was able to get out there and do something.
The series featured some of our all-time favorite cover art, with a cover run on Issues #17-22 by The Star Wars artist Mike Mayhew. Mayhew created a new, cool, young look for Steve Austin, who sported the classic track suit updated for a modern audience and fashion sense. His Issue #19 cover has Steve holding a car over his head, and you get to really see the strength. Probably his best cover is for Issue #20, an inspiring cover which reminds me of one of my favorite paintings of President Kennedy.
